


Light and Dark

by kronette



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Halloween, Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 19:47:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1022689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kronette/pseuds/kronette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prompt was: can I have a scary,  dark, and spooky fic for Halloween, Rimmer/Lister pairing, please?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light and Dark

Rimmer snarled as the lights flickered again. "That's the third time today. Lister!" he bellowed, not bothering to look up from the instruments he was polishing.

He heard Lister stride into their quarters, the annoyingly chipper voice teasing, "Are those your dulcet tones that beckon me, Rimmer?"

"Shut it, you," he warned, then waved his finger toward the ceiling. "The lights are doing that thing again."

Lister popped the top on a beer and straddled the chair next to Rimmer. "So?"

He glared at his lover; Lister could be so thick sometimes. "So – fix it!"

Lister calmly sipped the foam from the can, making a show of licking his lips. "No."

He sent Lister his best glare. "No? What do you mean, no?"

Lister set the can down and fixed him with a look he couldn't decipher. "I've done checked. Kryten's done checked. _Holly's_ done checked. There's nothing going on with the lights."

Feeling pedantic, he snapped, "Have you had DeMurr check?"

Rimmer stared down at the gentle touch to the back of his hand, feeling a deep chasm opening inside his chest.

When he looked back up to Lister's face, it was wreathed in concern and fear. "Don't you remember this conversation, Rimmer? There's never been anyone on board named DeMurr."
    
    
    **,**
    **_))._**
    **/`'---'`\**
    **| <\ />  |**
    **| \  ^  / |**
    **\  '-'-'  /**
    **jgs '--'----'**
    

Rimmer blew out an annoyed breath as the lights flickered again. "That's the second time today," he muttered, slamming the implements he'd been cleaning onto the tabletop. As he was about to call for his lover, Lister entered their quarters.

"I thought you were going to fix the lights?" he accused. "They're still flickering."

Lister popped the top on a beer and straddled the chair next to Rimmer. "There's nothing wrong with the lights, Rimmer. Can't you see?"

He glared at his lover; Lister could be so thick sometimes. "Of course I can't see. The lights keep flickering!"

Lister calmly sipped the foam from the can, then set it down and fixed him with a look he couldn't decipher. "There's nothing going on with the lights, Rimmer. I've checked and so has Kryten."

He sniffed indignantly. "Have you had DeMurr check?"

He stared down at the gentle touch to the back of his hand, feeling a deep chasm opening inside his chest.

When he looked back up to Lister's face, it was wreathed in concern and fear. "Don't you remember this conversation, Rimmer? There's never been anyone on board named DeMurr."
    
    
    **_..._**
    **.'     '.**
    **; __   __ ;**
    **|/  \ /  \|**
    **|\| -- ' -- |/|**
    **|(| \o| |o/ |)|**
    **_\| >   |/_**
    **.-'  | ,.___., |  '-.**
    **\    ;  V'-'V  ;    /**
    **`\   \       /   /`**
    **`\  '-...-'  /`**
    **`\  / \  /`**
    **jgs    `\\_//`**

Rimmer paused in his humming to tut-tut at the flickering lights, distracting him from his work. Dark flecks floated to the table as he vigorously scrubbed the spanner, removing the caked-on dirt that marred the surface. He dipped the rag in the cleaning fluid and rubbed it inside the ring, the black gunk giving way to streaks of dark red rust.

"You're in a good mood," Lister noted as he came into their quarters, tipping Rimmer's head back to give him an upside-down kiss.

He flicked his tongue along Lister's lips, the faint taste of metal from the pen he'd been chewing lingering. He brought his head back down and grimaced. "I was in a _better_ mood, but the lights flickered a moment ago. Didn't you notice?"

Lister popped the top on a beer and straddled the chair next to Rimmer. He took a sip before answering quietly, "No, I didn't."

Rimmer stopped cleaning the spanner and turned narrowed eyes at his lover. "You just walked in; how could you miss it?"

Lister calmly sipped the foam from the can, then set it down and fixed him with a look he couldn't decipher. "Rimmer, the lights didn't flicker. They're perfectly normal."

He huffed and resumed his cleaning, the rust stain spreading over the rag. "I'd feel better if DeMurr checked, all the same. You can't be too careful this far out into deep space, with no one to call for help. You never know what might happen."

He stared down at the gentle touch to the back of his hand, feeling a deep chasm opening inside his chest.

When he looked back up to Lister's face, it was wreathed in concern and fear. "Rimmer, there's never been anyone on board named DeMurr. It's you."
    
    
    **(,_    ,_,    _,)**
    **/|\`-._( )_.-'/|\**
    **/ | \`-'/ \'-`/ | \**
    **/__|.-'`-\ /-`'-.|__\**
    **jgs  `          "          `**

Pitiful flashes of light teased the darkness, casting disfigured shadows on the walls. He staggered along the corridor, the spanner still clenched tightly in his hand. Distorted laughter echoed around him, inside him, driving him onward.

He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, the warm, sticky dribble leaving an aftertaste. He tried to focus, tried to recall what level he was on, what ship he was on – who he was. He tried to call out but liquid burbled up his throat and filled his mouth, choking him. He leaned back against the wall and bent over, gagging.

"Rimmer!"

Familiar. The voice was familiar. In his coughing fit, he turned his head to see a man coming toward him. It may have been a man he knew. Once. He looked down at the spanner in his hand, the clumps of hair and dark streaks annoying him. His fist tightened around the handle.

"Rimmer?" When he looked at the man's face, it was wreathed in concern and fear.

His gaze slid from the man to something flashing behind him. The sparse light was dancing off something glinting; something shattered, but he could see marks painted on it. Letters. Letters in a jumble that made no sense; that had to make sense. He had to make them make sense! They had to –

A name. There was a name.

"Rimmer?"

No, not Rimmer. He stepped around the man who turned as he walked past, drawn to the letters that made a name.

They weren’t in order. They were in disarray, the broken pieces fitted together wrong. He knelt and pushed them around, rearranged them in a growing frenzy: drumer, redrum, urdrem, demurr.

The name.

DeMurr.

"Rimmer, can you hear me?"

He stared down at the gentle touch to the back of his hand. Looked at the man with the dark eyes and dark skin and dark hair. He turned the spanner in his hand. And swung.

-end-

**Author's Note:**

> I found the ascii art here: http://www.geocities.com/spunk1111/haloween.htm


End file.
